Khushal Waseem

BS 8th
Critical analysis of harry potter.
Harry potter and the philosopher stone is the first novel of popular series, Harry Potter written by J. K.
Rowling. The novel is based on journey of harry potter from Muggle world to Wizarding World, how he
save the philosopher stone from Voldemort. This bildungsroman genre, revolve around the eponymous
hero Harry Potter; a ten year old orphan boy lived with his uncle and aunt before he comes to know of
his true identity. Soon, he enrolls in school and gradually becomes best friend of Ron and Hermione.
They face different challenges and after passing those challenges they were able to save philosopher
stone from Voldemort.

Some major theme of story is love, friendship, power, and good vs. evil. Love plays a very dominate role
in philosopher stone, Lilly potter by scarifying her own life to save potter, is just result of mother love.
Another important theme is friendship, it can be analyzed from how Ron and hominine help harry in
every challenge. Voldemort is easily associated with greed and the desire for power. In the battle of
good vs. evil, good always win over evil. Similarly, harry defeated Voldemort by protecting philosopher
stone. Good vs. evil theme is not restricted only to wizard world but is also prominent in Muggle world
i.e. evil of cruel Dursley.

Beside from theme another important element of every novel is symbols. The most important symbol in
the novel is the scar on Harry's forehead which represents Harry's past, his present, and his future.
Similarly, the title “philosopher stone” symbolizes how power corrupt people. Addition to this, it
symbolizes immortality. This novel is a unique blend of fantasy novel, mystery story, adventure novel,
humorous story and epic. It is based on different theme like love, scarifies friendship etc. The writer
makes it attractive to audience by giving it touch of magical realism, bildungsroman and use of Varity of
symbol.